Ripples

14. Celebrate Together

It doesn’t take much. Twenty five bites, initially, then more.
Intention and attention.
We can change how we show up, as ourselves, with each other.
With the world.

A simply tiny
bite. A masterpiece of sorts.
Spring inside your mouth.

15. Pull Up a Chair at the Low Bar

don’t usually
write haiku while drinking scotch
hard to count on fing
(ers)

Hahahahaha
Hahahaha Hahaha
Hahaha haha

These are so funny
I can’t help laughing out loud
and now I want Scotch.

16. Listen to the Sound of Us

Sounds are memories.
A song, a voice, places, home.
Past busking futures.

List #11

Today the list it is a bit different. I recorded different parts of my way to work, now I will listen and try to remember through the sounds what was happening at that exact moment. Let’s see…

1. I started recording the pigeon’s mating sound in the garden 00: 04.33″
2. Crossing the garden I saw a couple of black birds running while hearing tits up in the tree 00:11.40
3. I sang to them 00:14 and got an answer 00:18
4. Arriving to the front garden I saw a few sparrows 00:22
5. A magpie sang “goodbye, have a good day at work” 00:23
6. I turned a corner, the wind came rushing me 00:37, lots of cars were passing by the road, I had to wait 00:42 on the sidewalk, then…
7. At the top of a tree I saw him, a little tit, he sang to make my waiting more enjoyable 00:46.
8. I crossed the road and a red car approached at high speed 01:00 I run hahaha
9. Lot’s of cars in the road… it is Saturday 01:10
10. I heard a seagull and looked up… It was a baby one 01:26
11. A young couple passed closed to me, they were chatting 2:30
12. I was walking fast, a little girl called her mum who was also walking fast 2:44
13. I saw a bus approaching, I heard the sounds of stretching the wheels. 03:12
14. I turned into an ally and almost stumbled into an old woman with a stick. She said something about a car 03:26
15. Approaching to the central square I can hear the seagulls 03:34 and some music…
16. A kid was busking at the square, couldn’t recognise the song 04:00 I stopped for a moment.
17. Put some coins on his hat 04:05 and continued walking
18. A big bus was “playing” his klaxon 04:52 and people were running around.
19. A super cool huge black chopper bike slowly passed me 04:56 I waved my hand.
20. I’m realising what a wonderful exercise of memory.

17. You Never Know Where Something Might Lead

Somehow I doubt that
the path to a horizon
goal is linear

April 4, 2021 – List#1

1. I listened to the rush of the water as I sat on a bench looking at the river.
2. I decided I would never wear some things again and removed them from my closet.
3. I opened a drawer that was full of empty boxes.
4. I picked up tulip petals off the floor.
5. I drove in the car with Alex, on a road I’d never been before.
6. I shared a zoom link with Inma.
7. The neighbor’s granddaughter told me this is her Nana’s house and I’m not allowed in.
8. I stood in the morning sun.
9. I dusted behind my couch.
10. I drank three glasses of water.
11. I listened to a song sung in ancient Hebrew.
12. I pumped some gas.
13. I opened a box that was filled with paper.
14. I mixed paint.
15. I checked my email.
16. I heard church bells ringing.
17. I looked at how the sun fell across my floor, now the wall behind my art table.
18. I ate cucumbers and avocado and rosemary marcona almonds.
19. I got out of bed.
20. I wrote some things down.

18. Putting One Thing Next to Another

1. Moorhead, MN numbers both its N-S and E-W streets.
2. The difference is that in one direction, the road is an avenue and in the other direction, the road is a street.
3. The abbreviations “Ave.” and “St.” are really tiny on the street signs.
4. The numbers are very large.
5. One time, I found myself at the corner of 4th and 4th.
6. I thought I was at the corner of 4th St. and 4th St. or 4th Ave. or 4th Ave.
7. This was so confusing to me that I was momentarily unable to make the car move.
8. “May the Fourth be with you” now means to me, “May you be so confused as to be incapable of motion.”
9. Moorhead is in my past.
10. That past is indeed a foreign country.
11. We did not see a beaver last night.
12. I photographed the beaver we saw on Monday night.
13. Beavers have orange incisors.
14. This is not because of lax oral hygiene.
15. I have not thought about grizzly bears.
16. I thought about the day I realized I wasn’t Ansel Adams.
17. I wrote about that.
18. I read about writing.
19. I listened to the rain on the window.
20. I felt soothed.

1. I will talk to you in lists.
2. Noticing the effect of words. Incomplete sentences.
3. Playing with rhythm.
4. Suggesting.
5. Moving away from the I who does and did and will.
6. But still here.
7. Breaking rules.
8. Ones I set.
9. Made up. Well I didn’t make them up. But I followed along. I tried them out.
10. As a way to what?
11. Create structure.
12. Reveal.
13. Explore.
14. Define.
15. Contain.
16. Write.
17. I am writing lists. Listing thoughts.
18. Things I do. Did.
19. How I feel when clouds come slowly,
20. suddenly taking over the sky.

1. I woke up early to watch people make choices today.
2. People make faces when they make choices.
3. When I was done with that I got to read and hear stories.
4. A better choice.
5. I ate leftovers cold for lunch.
6. I ate some of them cold because they were ice cream.
7. That was delicious.
8. I never eat dessert.
9. Especially not at lunch.
10. My tea tasted better because of it.
11. I took a walk.
12. At the end of the day I did not go sit in stifling silence while other people talked.
13. I was glad if this choice.
14. I am realizing I have more choices than I think.
15. One of them is to leave the dishes half done because the sink is a little clogged and won’t drain properly.
16. My sink is borrowing trouble from tomorrow.
17. My pets think only about right now.
18. Felix is having a ‘Cuddle me now’ thought.
19. I oblige.
20. These lists may be a new genre of poetry I call “Listics”. They don’t tell the whole story, but they say enough to be alluring.

1. I had a cup of coffee before
2. I went down a rabbit hole to the most remote island in the world.
3. When I returned, I had another cup of coffee.
4. I decided to believe my own eyes when
5. I looked out the window and saw that it was gloriously sunny.
6. I needed to think so
7. I put on my walking shoes
8. and took my mind to the park
9. to let it wander.
10. I saw evidence of beavers.
11. I remembered that yesterday I saw three beavers.
12. Two of them were even real.
13. I remembered that yesterday I was irritated.
14. I remembered that yesterday I figured out why and
15. I wrote about it.
16. I remembered that yesterday
17. I thought about my father.
18. I wrote about that memory.
19. Today, I am proud to be part Neanderthal.
20. This is good because my teeth aren’t long enough to be part beaver.

1. hakusai – Chinese cabbage
2. gai lan – Chinese broccoli
3. sake onigiri – salmon rice balls
4. Yuzu mayo
5. cut young corn
6. straw mushrooms
7. bamboo shoot strips
8. pork
9. daikon – giant white radish
10. Taiwan cabbage
11. hoisin sauce (1, 5-10 are for mu shu pork)
12. pork gyoza
13. jalapeño pão de queso (jalapeño cheese puffs)
14. Mabo dofu sauce – medium hot
15. Yu choy sum – Asian greens
16. yellow onions (for French onion soup)
17. scallions
18. pickled ginger
19. wasabi (17 -19 for my daughter’s high school graduation meal tomorrow – sushi and miso soup)
20. Frozen okonomiyaki (I haven’t had any since 1993. It’s unlikely to be great, but I’m curious how it’ll taste. I’ve never figured out how to make it at home).

1. The day has been full of unexpected news.
2. I climbed the super steep hill that our house is on three times today.
3. I saw my neighbor Barbara and she gave me cuttings of her pretty plant to put in a vase.
4. I spoke with another neighbor and got to pet her beautiful dog.
5. The dog was a breed called Tamaskan.
6. Tamaskans don’t bark but howl.
7. I cooked a lot of dinner to take over to a friend who lost their Mom today.
8. I shopped at a new Indian store for some spices and Okra.
9. A customer walked into the store looking for Kissan Jam.
10. The cashier and others that work at the store are new and weren’t familiar with the brand name and didn’t know where the jam was stocked.
11. I was able to point to the shelf full of Kissan jam right next to where the lady looking for it was standing.
12. It reminded me of a story my dad shared about Kissan jam.
13. My dad was an avid trekker when he was younger.
14. He once trekked with a bunch of college students that he taught and happened to visit the factory that makes Kissan jam on his way back from a hiking trip.
15. He told me, “never eat Kissan jam in your life”.
16. “That factory is not at all clean”, he said.
17. I still crave Kissan jam once in a while.
18. No one knows what goes into a jar of Kissan jam.
19. I’m on #19.
20. Here is what it looks like:

19. With Intention

0. hero
1. for the money
2. better than one
3. a magic number
4. score and…did they really talk that way?
5. take
6. six six five: neighbor of the beast
7. up
8. is enough
9. revolution
10. base
11. turn it up to
12. baker’s dozen minus one
13. lucky
14. valentine
15. quinceañera
16. sweet
17. paauuuuuuuse rewind replay
18. wheeler
19. hey steely dan

1. At the moment, I’m hungry and tired.
2. I’m up to get in some worship time for the last nights of Ramadan. Now, I’m making a list.
3. The first of the last 10 nights was great. I did all that I wanted to and that made me content.
4. Haya locked me out of my own bedroom yesterday morning. I asked kindly to open the door and she wouldn’t. I thought if I needed a sledgehammer. I looked for keys and my fasting brain could not find keys. I reasoned with her again. Nope…nothing. I thought about how this is a strange synchronicity @Jennifer.
5. I called Shakil and put him on speaker phone and Haya opened the door right away. What the…
6. Haya annoyed me for the rest of the day even when I had the babysitter over.
7. The babysitter left for the week. Haya kicked me on my leg on the school playground. Why?
8. Rihab and Rania argued over toothpaste. Rihab said Rania wastes toothpaste and puts it all over the sink. She mentioned it through out the day. I asked her what’s more important? Toothpaste or her sister? She replied, “My teeth.”
9. I was expecting another great night of personal reflection and worship. Haya kept getting up every 10 minutes or so. It turned out she was not well and had a fever the next morning.
10. I woke up and noticed that I had fallen asleep in my day clothes. That never happens.
11. I dragged along in the morning expecting a day of taking care of Haya.
12. The doorbell rang as I tried to get kids ready for school and it was my Mother…such an unexpected surprise.
13. Mother helped me the whole day. I was not expecting that at all.
14. Haya was in a better mood.
15. I attended my first revision class in which I’ll take my first draft to 2nd draft level.
16. I bought some shoes for the kids and they wanted toys at the check out aisle just because. I thought about how when I got shoes as a kid, I was just happy about the shoes.
17. Over the weekend, we got the kids some really nice bikes from a bike shop.
18. I asked for an adult bike with training wheels and I was shown a tricycle.
19. I went home and tried all the kids’ bike. I felt like goldilocks.
20. Maybe I can learn how to ride a bike.

This morning, this hour
we will be welcoming spring’s
equinox power.

And with Her, it comes
colours, smells, sounds, and flavours,
warm touch, and flowers.

Aries brings his fire
Moon gemini singing choirs
our frequencies higher

20. What May Emerge?

Let the game begin
Where it will go we follow
One and other sharing

I like how haiku
is added as an option
as a nod for fun

How Will You Remember, #38

1. How will you remember the shadows dancing in the early morning?
2. Or the light?
3. How the clouds moved through the sky freshly white?
4. And the breeze cool not cold as you stand in the sun?
5. How will you remember what it means to welcome
6. This day
7. The sounds of families making their way
8. The sound of wind moving through leaves just beginning again?
9. Will you recall the way you stopped and listened as people moved through hallways you grew to fear
10. Or the way you began to greet people good morning as you ventured out your door?
11. What will you carry with you?
12. The tenacity of birds flying with sticks in their beaks as they make home?
13. Or how you walked to the river so clear and calm and you contemplated the meaning of haven?
14. Perhaps it will be the hills you walked?
15. The man you saw bending wire into hearts to hang from telephone poles?
16. Or the bright graffiti on crumbling bricks?
17. The bricks that were stacked to make home to make places of work and industry
18. Or the bridges of metal and stone?
19. Will you remember the alleyways where men worked together on cars and dogs barked suddenly or the women smoking on stoops as kids called to each other to play?
20. How will you choose to remember this day?

and so it begins
or is it continuing?
one page at a time

• As We Are
• Finding Rhythm
• Ripples